


Forever

by malevolentmango



Series: Promise/Forever [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 22:46:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13580517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malevolentmango/pseuds/malevolentmango
Summary: The first time Taako gets sick after they move in together, Kravitz panics. Just slightly.





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> This is a "deleted scene" from my fic Promise, but it can be read as a stand-alone piece. I felt bad for the big hit I did yesterday, and so I wrote this fluff to make up for it.

The first time Taako gets sick after they move in together, Kravitz panics. Just slightly.

 

He's pretty sure he would know if it was the _permanent_ kind of sick, but the knowledge that Taako will be fine doesn't make the sound of his hacking coughs any easier to bear.

 

Kravitz frets over him the first day that he gets really bad, bringing him water, piling him in blankets that Taako inevitably kicks to the floor a few minutes later, calling Lup on his Stone of Farspeech to ask for advice. It only takes a few hours of this for Taako to explode.

 

“Just _stop,_ Krav!” he shouts hoarsely after Kravitz walks uncertainly between the kitchen and the living room three times, offering him a different flavor of tea each time. “Fucking--”

 

He breaks off into another coughing fit that has Kravitz wincing. There's no risk of him catching anything, but just the sound of it makes him wish they could swap places, that Kravitz could bear this instead. It's a silly thought, and Taako would scoff at him for having it, but it's there nonetheless.

 

Kravitz kneels on the floor in front of the couch, next to Taako's head. Taako calms down soon enough, and Kravitz runs a cool, gentle hand over his forehead. Taako’s skin is clammy, he’s red-faced and bleary-eyed, but he leans into Kravitz's touch with a groan.

 

“I'm sorry, love,” Kravitz says.

 

Taako sighs, and even that sounds labored. “No, it's fine,” he says weakly. “Cha’boy’s in less than perfect condition and I'm sure that's very concerning.”

 

Kravitz huffs, running his hand through Taako's hair. “You know I don't care about that. Just tell me how to help.”

 

“Just… I don't know.” He eyes Kravitz warily. “Do you remember when I showed you how to make that chicken soup?”

 

Kravitz smirks. “I remember distracting you halfway through and you almost letting the vegetables burn.”

 

“‘Cause you're a fucking _menace--”_ Taako laughs, which causes him to start coughing again. Kravitz frowns, shifting closer to him, but Taako just waves him off. He lays back heavily against his mound of pillows, looking exhausted. Kravitz stands up, pressing a kiss to Taako's cheek as he goes.

 

“I think I can handle it.”

 

Kravitz cannot, in fact, handle it.

 

By the time he's done, the kitchen is a total mess, there's chicken stock all down the front of his shirt, and the final product is definitely missing some of whatever Taako adds to make it amazing. But it's a passable soup, he hopes.

 

He goes to check on Taako and finds him dozing, his slow breaths rattling in his chest. Kravitz smiles softly. It will keep until he wakes up.

 

That night, Taako thanks him for his attempt at soup and demands to have “his personal popsicle” wrapped around him so he can sleep through his fever.

 

Which is a good idea in theory, except that the next day, his fever gets worse.

 

Kravitz is very glad he declined multiple offers from Taako’s family to come over and help, because family they may be, but Taako would hate being seen like this. Delirious, alternately aware and unaware of his surroundings, muttering things in his bouts of fitful sleep. In a moment of clarity, he looks pleadingly at Kravitz and says, “This fucking sucks, Krav, I just wanna feel normal again.” His voice takes on that unintentionally earnest quality that Kravitz normally adores, and he wishes he could fix this somehow. But Merle is off sailing with Davenport, and Lup has assured him that this is the kind of thing that just has to be waited out.

 

But despite his worry, he is _definitely_ giving Taako hell when he feels better about some of the things that slip out of his mouth.

 

“Magnus is soft. Like a dog. Fluffy dog…”

 

“Is Ango here?” When Kravitz tells him no, he looks heartbreakingly sad. “He’s my good magic boy.”

 

“Magic is weird, you know? Like. Magic? What the hell? You know? I could turn you into a--into a raven. Ha! Get it? Get it, Krav? Like the Raven Queen?”

 

Kravitz tries to ask if he wants more soup. Taako doesn’t answer his question, but he does say, “Have you ever met a chicken?” Kravitz takes this as a yes, and fixes up a bowl for him, which he devours gratefully.

 

“Do you think Merle fucked the potted plant he gave us as a housewarming gift before he gave it to us?”

 

After dinner, Taako lays across the couch with his head in Kravitz’s lap, dozing and murmuring more nonsense that Kravitz mostly ignores. Taako’s reached a new level of unintelligible as his fever has gotten worse. But when Kravitz hears his own name, he starts paying attention again.

 

“It’s gonna be--be the coolest wedding ever, you know, there’s gonna be. There’s gonna be the _biggest fucking cake ever,_ Krav, and I’m gonna throw five bouquets and there’ll be twelve costume changes because how am I supposed to pick just _one_ dress, honestly…”

 

Taako rambles on for a while, but Kravitz is frozen, the book he was reading forgotten. He doesn’t want to put too much stock in Taako’s delirious statements, but…

 

Does this mean he’s thought about it? About marrying Kravitz? That he’s thought about their future together, and that it’s something he wants? That _Kravitz_ is something he wants, forever?

 

Kravitz tries very hard to keep his cool as Taako goes on to describe the flowers he wants and how the only person who’s allowed to cook for them is Lup. If Taako was at all in his right mind, he would probably see through him in an instant.

 

~~~

 

Taako is completely back to normal in a week. He makes the chicken soup the correct way, and Kravitz pays attention this time, making a mental note of the little things he forgot. Taako kisses him as the final product simmers and murmurs, “Thanks for taking care of me,” and Kravitz just smiles and assures him he’ll always do so.

 

Over dinner, Kravitz tells him all the things he said, and Taako laughs, delighted and only blushing a little.

 

“I can’t believe I said the thing about the plant, I’m never gonna look at that stupid thing again now.”

 

Kravitz snorts. “I certainly wasn’t going to suffer the thought of that alone.”

 

“That’s fair. What else did I say?”

 

“You, uh…” Kravitz shoves a spoonful of soup in his mouth and tries to act casual. “You talked about our wedding.”

 

Taako stares at him. Kravitz clears his throat. He tells Taako about the five bouquets, and the giant cake, and Lup as their caterer, and the twelve outfits. The whole time, Taako just continues to look at him, his ears perked up in interest.

 

And Kravitz is expecting one of two responses. Either Taako will laugh about it like he has all the rest of his fever-induced stories, or he’ll play it off with some kind of quip. Kravitz can almost hear him saying, “You’ll have to come up with a better proposal than that, Krav. I’m Taako, you know, from TV?”

 

He really should know better. Taako has never once done what Kravitz expects him to.

 

What Taako says instead is, “Well, yeah.”

 

“What?”

 

Taako slurps up a bit of soup, seemingly unaware of the ways in which he is rocking Kravitz’s world. “Of _course_ I’m gonna have twelve outfits, Krav, anything less would be ridiculous. I have to look my best.”

 

“I mean… yes, of course you do, but…” Kravitz shakes his head. “Darling, we’re not even engaged, that’s--”

 

“We can be.”

 

Kravitz gapes at him. Taako’s doing a very good impression of calm and nonchalant, but Kravitz knows his tells: the droop of his left ear, the flush that spreads down his neck, the sound of the rhythmic tapping of his foot under the table.

 

“Are you--”

 

“Listen, I’m not going anywhere, and you…” Taako glances down at his bowl and then back up at Kravitz, his eyes clearer than he’s seen them in days, holding a fierceness and surety that makes Kravitz forget how to breathe. “You’re not going anywhere either.”

 

It’s not a question, Kravitz realizes. He’s not asking Kravitz to confirm what he’s said a hundred times before, to repeat it, to drive his point home. He says it like the fact that it is - a firm, unshakeable reality.

 

“And besides,” Taako adds, a smile playing around his lips, “you know how much I love a good party.”

 

Kravitz drops his spoon into his bowl and rounds the table without a thought, bending down to pull Taako into a fierce kiss with a hand on either side of his face. Taako’s hands come up to rest on his forearms, drawing him in closer, and they stay that way until Taako breaks away, panting.

 

As an afterthought, Kravitz goes down on one knee, and says, “This is the worst proposal either of us could ever make.”

 

Taako laughs. “It’s pretty much a disaster, yeah, considering I almost coughed up a lung a few days ago. But that’s kind of our style.”

 

Kravitz stares up at him, love swelling up inside him until it threatens to overwhelm him entirely, and counts himself lucky for the strange set of circumstances that brought them to this very moment.

 

“Marry me?” he asks, and revels in the way Taako’s eyes soften, the way they do just for him.

 

“You know it, Bones.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me about TAZ on [tumblr](http://malevolentmango.tumblr.com)!


End file.
